U.s. Secretly Charges Another Suspect In Probe Of Bin Laden

May 23, 1999|By Benjamin Weiser, New York Times News Service.

NEW YORK — Under cloak of secrecy, the government has taken another suspect into custody in the investigation of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile accused in the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa last year, according to several people knowledgeable about the case.

The suspect, Ihab M. Ali, was charged Wednesday with perjury after he came to New York City. It appears he was charged in a closed hearing in U.S. district court in Manhattan soon after he was asked to testify before a federal grand jury that has been investigating the bombings and what the government has described as a worldwide terrorist conspiracy led by bin Laden.

Few details could be learned about Ali, who is said to be from Orlando. Charges against him are not listed in public court records, and his phone is unlisted. A court-appointed lawyer assigned to represent some defendants charged in the U.S. District Court on Wednesday refused to respond to any questions about whether Ali might be her client.

It is believed that Ali, said to be in his 30s, was being investigated in connection with the broader look at the activities of bin Laden and was not necessarily tied directly to the embassy attacks.

Both Herbert Hadad, a spokesman for Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Joseph A. Valiquette, a spokesman for the FBI, refused to comment Friday.

It is known, however, that the terrorism investigation by White's office has been focusing increasingly on the role of U.S. citizens and others in this country. The government has charged that bin Laden specifically recruited Americans into his organization, in part because they were able to travel more freely around the world on their U.S. passports.

Two U.S. citizens are already in custody. They are Wadih Hage, an Arlington, Texas, man who has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with bin Laden to kill Americans abroad, and Ali A. Mohamed, a Californian indicted this week, also for conspiracy.

Both have also been accused of lying to a grand jury.

It is extremely unusual for anyone to be charged in secret. The arrest of Ali, whose citizenship status could not be learned, brings to six the number of people known to be in custody in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in the investigation of bin Laden.

Another eight suspects, including bin Laden, have been charged but not apprehended. Another suspect is awaiting extradition from Britain.